Only One Setting
Only One Setting is what happens when there's no more than one setting. In this instance, the writers must use that setting for every episode, otherwise the episode taking place in another place is non-canon. Usually common in preschool shows, but there are some shows with just one single setting that are aimed at older audiences. See also The Next Day is Always the Same, in which this can also extend to only one single day, as well as most, if not all, of the events taking place on that specific day. If it's the only setting of a specific arc to a series that otherwise averts this, that's a case of Padding Filler Z or, if said setting is a specific planet, Planet-or-Villain Saga. Examples *Dexter's Laboratory, most of the time. Most of the episodes take place entirely in Dexter's house, but there are some that take place at his school, or somewhere else in his hometown. Needless to say, with the exception of "Big Bots", any episode with Koosalagoopagoop in it, or any episode requiring space travel, Dexter's Laboratory uses Dexter's hometown as the show's only true setting. **The Justice Friends take place almost entirely in the city the eponymous Friends reside in. The one exception was just a dream by Puppet Pal Mitch. **Dial "M" for Monkey subverted this. *The entirety of the first Danganronpa game takes place in Hope's Peak Academy. *The first 23 episodes of Kill la Kill are mostly set in Honno Town. The 24th episode subverts this, and in the 25th (the OVA), Honno Town, the primary setting for most of the episodes, sinks into the ocean. *Soul Eater takes place almost entirely in Death City. Needless to say, there are some exceptions to this trope in that anime... *Lucky Star in manga form takes place almost entirely in the girls' hometown, but their school is the most prominent setting in the series. This is lessened a little in the anime. *The Simpsons takes place almost entirely in the city of Springfield. Though it wasn't stated which city of Springfield, though... *The Problem Solverz, with the exception of its pilots, takes place entirely in Farboro. *A single season of Total Drama has up to two settings, the only exceptions being "Action" and "World Tour". *The Powerpuff Girls (1998) takes place mostly in Townsville. However, it isn't 100% played straight, as the girls have been to places other than Townsville. **This is definitely subverted for the anime adaptation Powerpuff Girls Z. *The main Super Mario Bros. videogames take place entirely in the Mushroom Kingdom. **Likewise, the Super Mario World cartoon takes place entirely in Dinosaur Land. *The X's only had two prominent settings- The X's homebase, and Glowface's recent lair. However, this still isn't 100% played straight. *Grossology only has two main settings: their hometown, and the Gag Lab. The other settings depend on the villain. *The majority of Jacob Two-Two only takes place in Jacob's hometown. Despite the fact that Jacob once tried to stop a rocket from going into space. *6teen mostly takes place at the mall, but there are exceptions. *Phineas and Ferb's primary setting is Danville, though there are other locations which are seen throughout the show. *Gravity Falls takes place entirely in the eponymous town. *Steven Universe's primary setting is Beach City, though there are times where Steven goes outside Beach City. *Codename: Kids Next Door's first season took place almost entirely in Sector V's hometown. The second season and onward, not so much. *Regular Show: The first seven seasons (unless the plot demands a different setting) take place in the town the park is located at. The eighth (and final) season takes place almost entirely in space (the ending sequence has the park return to Earth). Of course, the park is still there, but it's in a spaceship. *The primary setting of The Fairly OddParents is Dimmsdale, though this isn't 100% played straight. *Anthology series like The Twilight Zone tend to subvert this due to the fact that they're anthology series. *While ChalkZone itself rarely plays this straight, its TV movie "The Big Blow Up" takes place entirely in the world of ChalkZone. *Many adult cartoons write in a specific setting and keep that setting. The majority of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast episodes play this straight, for example. **Of course, not all adult cartoons are like this. For example, Perfect Hair Forever had consistently-changing settings over its nine episodes. *Rugrats took place mainly in the Pickles' house, but there are some exceptions (the pilot to All Grown Up!, for example). **Its spin-off All Grown Up subverts this. *Gloria's House takes place in only one town, with only two main families: The Nits and the Purrfects. *Speaking of only one town, PB&J Otter takes place entirely in Lake Hoohaw. *The majority of Sherlock Holmes stories take place in London. *Hey Arnold! (the series, not the movies) takes place entirely in Arnold's neighborhood. **The movie subverts this, and the made-for-TV movie is going to subvert this too. *Pinky Dinky Doo takes place entirely in a setting known as "The Great Big City". Keep in mind that this wouldn't be the first time Pinky's creator Jim Jinkins used only one setting in one of his shows. *Milo Murphy's Law takes place entirely in the town that Milo Murphy moved into in the first episode. *Fish Hooks takes place entirely at the pet store (specifically, most of the show was set inside the fish tanks). *The Buzz on Maggie takes place in a dump. *Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (a Teletoon/Nick Jr. series) takes place in the world of Maggie's drawings, with Maggie as the only visible human in the show. *Speaking of Teletoon, Gerald McBoing-Boing (2005) also did this. *Invader Zim played this trope straight, with very few exceptions (an example of an exception would be episode 26), mostly because of its short run. *Ned's Newt mostly takes place in Friendly Falls (aka Ned's hometown). *Another Teletoon example would be My Dad the Rock Star, as it mostly takes place in Silent Springs. *This is the case with Yandere Simulator's debug builds, as they only take place in Ayano's hometown, but mostly Akademi High School or Yandere-chan's house. *Most Canadian animated series take place in Canada. An exception could be Johnny Test, due to the fact that it takes place in the US. (Of course, Teletoon being, well, Teletoon...) *The film 12 Angry Men is notable for having most of the film using only one set (in this case, the jury room). *PJ Katie's Farm is more of a "Only One Actor" thing, as only PJ Katie and the cameraman were on set. Also, most of the episodes take place on the eponymous farm (thanks to the low budget). Keep in mind that it was YTV that commissioned this, and live-action shows by YTV usually tend to subvert this trope. But, as stated before, this show had a low budget, so YTV had no choice. *Aggretsuko takes place almost entirely at Retsuko's workplace or the karaoke bar (depending on Retsuko's feelings). Keep in mind, this is only for most of the 2016 shorts. The Netflix series as a whole subverts this due to being an expansion of some of the original shorts and actually showing why Retsuko is the way she is. *Had Ruby not been careless during Cleaning Day, the entirety of Jewelpet might've only taken place in Jewel Land. *Mon Colle Knights has only two established settings: the hometown of Mondo and Rockna (with sub-settings being their school, the lab, and Prince Ludwig Von Monsterstein Eccentro's castle), and Mon World. *Digimon as a whole averts this. But it seems outside of the Digital World, the Chosen Children of both Adventure and Adventure 02 don't go outside their hometown. Averted by Tri, due to the Digimon franchise shifting towards averting Cartoons Mean They're For Kids by that point. *Each specific region in Pokémon (prior to the end of Sun & Moon Ultra Legends, that is) is the only setting of a given season. Averted with the original Japanese order, but since the English dub splits the anime into seasons... **Played even more straight for the "Sun & Moon" seasons. Granted, this is more due to Gyms being replaced with Island Trials and the amount of characters the anime has now. **Last but not least, this got so bad that the reboot Pokémon anime will actually avert this by showcasing every region featured up to that point. *''Doki Doki Literature Club''. The school where the literature club is located is the most prominent setting in the whole game. Unless you get to the point where there's no one else but Monika... **You don't even have to walk into the school at all. Just get rid of Monika and Sayori will go insane. *''Angel Beats!'' takes place almost entirely at a school that just happened to be part of the characters' afterlife. **In fact, a lot of works by Key are most prominently set at a school. The only exception thus far is Air, since it takes place during summer. *''Gemusetto Machu Picchu'' takes place entirely in South America (with the exception of the last 10-20 minutes of the final episode). Otherwise averted, since it takes the Perfect Hair Forever approach of changing scenery. *''Himouto! Umaru-chan'' takes place almost entirely in Umaru's hometown. But not the entire story, since it would get too formulaic. *The first season of Maple Town takes place almost entirely at the titular town. Likewise, its second season takes place in Palm Town. *''Prison School'' took place almost entirely at Hachimitsu Academy's prison block. *''Bakuman'' never could've really focused on story settings outside of Tokyo, since the Chiyoda ward is where Shueisha is located- averted with actual locations, at any rate. *One of Kokoro's biggest obstacles to keeping her secret is the fact that her hometown is the most prominent setting in the entire show. *''One Piece'' only has one specific setting for each arc. As of 2019, that specific setting is Wano Country. Averted for the series as a whole. *Many Doctor Who episodes from the Third Doctor's tenure take place entirely on Earth. This is a result of the Doctor's exile to Earth. *Namek in Dragon Ball Z is the most predominant setting in the entire Frieza saga- every other arc after tends to be one that can change location and scenery. **In Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Krillin lampshades this by saying "We're still on Namek!". TBA.